# Common analogies that almost no one really understands? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 20, 2006, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082 "2006-03-20T03:13:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082/21 "2006-03-20T23:09:55Z")
Well here are two expressions (not really analogies – is that okay?) that are so misunderstood they are almost universally misapplied. The first is the expression “begging the question.” It does _not_ mean “that which naturally leads us to ask the following question…” It does mean, essentially, circular reasoning. The next one, a biblical reference, was one I misapplied for years. It is the term “the prodigal son.” Most people would assume it means the “son who strayed, but who has returned to the family.” But that’s not really right. Literally, it means the “free-spending son.” Sure, he returned home in the end, but that’s not what “prodigal” means. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082/22 "2006-03-21T03:32:22Z")
In any locker room, you’re still liable to hear some guy talking about a shapely girl being “built like a brick shithouse.” His friends all get the picture, but do any of them know what the simile refers to? ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082/23 "2006-03-21T03:35:57Z")
> [@PBear42](#): > > A few off the top of my head: > > A stitch in time saves nine > Now you’re cooking with gas > All at sixes and sevens > Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth > To Welsh on a bet > FWIW, this is a big enough problem that there’s a classic text, [Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006019653X/103-7490805-6150259?v=glance&n=283155), dedicated to explaining fading sayings. The 1898 edition, the last on which Brewer himself worked, is now in the public domain and available online [here](http://www.bibliomania.com/2/3/255/frameset.html) and [here](http://www.bartleby.com/81/). “A stitch in time saves nine” is obvious to anyone who sews, I’d think. Catch the problem early to avoid a bigger one. Gas cooks faster and more reliably than electricity, but I’m guessing the original saying compared gas to wood or coal. At sixes and sevens has always puzzed me. Anyone familiar with horses and their dentation knows they wear down their teeth, so an old horse has worn teeth. If someone is gifting you don’t look for the flaws. No idea why I wouldn’t pay off on my bets (My ancestry is Welch 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082/24 "2006-03-21T03:55:31Z")
When I saw that scene in Brokeback Mountain, my first thought was “Wow, they [the sheep] are all just following each other as if they were sh-- Oh, right.” I think a lot of people refer to _1984_ or “Big Brother” without having read the book, or without really thinking of the book. ---
**Author:** ![PBear42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PBear42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PBear42)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082/25 "2006-03-21T04:01:52Z")
Stitch: But that’s the point. Hardly anyone sews anymore. Besides, the natural reading of the phrase is that time is being stitched. Most people I know think it’s a nonsense phrase. Gas: Most definitely referring to coal or wood, both of which were cumbersome and imprecise. Sixes & Sevens: [Two theories](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-six1.htm). Horses: Maybe you’re right, but my understanding is that it had to do with judging the horse’s health. This [Staff Report](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mgifthorse.html) agrees. Welsh: You’re grape juice? Anyhoo, my point is that most people don’t even realize it’s an ethnic slur. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082/26 "2006-03-21T05:32:23Z")
> [@PBear42](#): > > Stitch: But that’s the point. Hardly anyone sews anymore. Besides, the natural reading of the phrase is that time is being stitched. Most people I know think it’s a nonsense phrase. > > Gas: Most definitely referring to coal or wood, both of which were cumbersome and imprecise. > > Sixes & Sevens: [Two theories](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-six1.htm). > > Horses: Maybe you’re right, but my understanding is that it had to do with judging the horse’s health. This [Staff Report](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mgifthorse.html) agrees. > > Welsh: You’re grape juice? Anyhoo, my point is that most people don’t even realize it’s an ethnic slur. \ My spelling is usually better than that. Sewing is still popular as a hobby, but, _darning_ isn’t, which would be more apropos to the saying. But, I do see your point about it referring to mending time. I think I thought that as a child. Thank you for the explanation on sixes and sevens. ---
**Author:** ![PBear42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PBear42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PBear42)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082/27 "2006-03-21T17:49:58Z")
Sorry, cheap shot but couldn’t resist. OTOH, on point to the topic at hand. I more often hear “Welch on a bet” than the correct formulation, and it’s not a typo. People have so lost the origin of the phrase that they don’t realize what they’re saying doesn’t make literal sense. As for stitch, I like your theory. Hadn’t occured to me but, yeah, darning fits better. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082/28 "2006-03-22T06:19:01Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > You want one that’s really lost its original resonance? The Good Samaritan. We’ve heard that bandied about so much that most folks just naturally assume that Samaritans, by their nature, were good. Well, I won’t say they weren’t, but that’s certainly not the way the original audience of the Gospels saw them. Asimov once wrote an essay that in a truly accurate translation of the Bible, the word “Samaritan” in that parable should be replaced with whatever group the culture reading it would find hateful. So to a Serb, it would be a Croat who helped the traveller, and to a modern Israeli, it would be a Palestinian, and so forth. > > And for the record, I was going to mention this one even before **Lizard** pointed out how many common expressions come from the Bible. I will note, though, in connection with sheep, that the Bible generally regards sheep as good (it’s the goats that are bad), while the modern usage of the analogy is more typically insulting. So maybe that’s not the best argument for **Lizard** ’s point. There was a version called, “The Good Nigger.” ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082/29 "2006-03-22T06:24:46Z")
“Packed like sardines.” All my life, my entire family worked for a sardine factory. When old enough, in the summertime, all of us students went to work for the sardine factory. When I graduated, I climbed the ranks and made great money at the sardine factory. One day a few years ago, I opened a can and peeked in at the little dudes jammed inside. “Huh,” I thought. “Makes sense.” It _does_. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082/30 "2006-03-22T06:35:30Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > You people are beginning to sound like a broken record. Groovy! ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082/31 "2006-03-22T10:49:49Z")
I’ve often wondered about the agricultural accuracy of Terry Pratchett’s analogy, in _Small Gods_, how it is unfortunate that the god Om has a shepherd as a first prophet rather than a goat herder, because sheep have to be _driven_, but goats have to be\* led\*. Me, it was only once I started working as geologist on a goldmine that I appreciated how difficult it actually is to “mine a rich seam” of something - the damn buggers keep faulting up or down, and you have to keep shifting to follow them. It’s be much easier to “sift for nuggets” ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082/32 "2006-03-22T10:53:26Z")
I’m not sure if this counts but the following is a conversation I had with my ex-wife: Wife: “Here, try a slice of this cake.” Me: “Um, no thanks” Her: “OH but you have to! It’s delicious!” Me: “No really, I don’t want any” Her: “But honey, you have to, it’s homenade.” Me: “Seetheart, remember all those sit ups you saw me doing this morning?” Her: “yeah.” Me: “Well, I’m not doing those for my health ya know.” Her: “Oh really?” :dubious: Me: “D’oh!” ---
**Author:** ![blueslipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@blueslipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blueslipper)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082/33 "2006-03-22T11:05:54Z")
> [@PBear42](#): > > Stitch: But that’s the point. Hardly anyone sews anymore. Besides, the natural reading of the phrase is that time is being stitched. Most people I know think it’s a nonsense phrase. My mother used to say this to me for years and years. I had absolutely no idea what it meant. It was just one of those strange mother expressions. I found out last year the actual meaning. I used to always wonder how time could be stitched. I thought it was something from quantum physics which I did not understand and my mother did. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082/34 "2006-03-23T21:53:14Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > I’m not sure if this counts but the following is a conversation I had with my ex-wife: > > Wife: “Here, try a slice of this cake.” > > Me: “Um, no thanks” > > Her: “OH but you have to! It’s delicious!” > > Me: “No really, I don’t want any” > > Her: “But honey, you have to, it’s homenade.” > > Me: “Seetheart, remember all those sit ups you saw me doing this morning?” > > Her: “yeah.” > > Me: “Well, I’m not doing those for my health ya know.” > > Her: “Oh really?” :dubious: > > Me: “D’oh!” I’m not sure what this was about but it went over my head. How was this conversation relevant? ---
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082/35 "2006-03-23T22:07:50Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I’ve often wondered about the agricultural accuracy of Terry Pratchett’s analogy, in _Small Gods_, how it is unfortunate that the god Om has a shepherd as a first prophet rather than a goat herder, because sheep have to be _driven_, but goats have to be\* led\*. Not true, actually. Sheep are driven in Western cultures, especially those that use dogs. But - and this helps to understand Psalm 23 and Jesus’ sheep/shepherd parables - in the middle east, the shepherd _led_ the sheep. But the sheep _knew_ their shepherd, and would only follow him, not a stranger. They knew the sound of his voice, and they trusted him. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082/36 "2006-03-23T22:13:52Z")
> [@Gozu](#): > > I’m not sure what this was about but it went over my head. How was this conversation relevant? He used the phrase “I’m not doing X for my health, you know,” (meaning, I’m doing it for a reason,) when in that instance, X was sit-ups and he WAS doing it for his health. Meaning, he didn’t quite grok the meaning of the idiom at the time it stumbled out of his mouth. ---
**Author:** ![twopiecesofeight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5e9695/32.png) [@twopiecesofeight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twopiecesofeight)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082/37 "2006-03-23T22:25:54Z")
> [@Silenus](#): > > You people are beginning to sound like a broken record. A friend told me she’s met younger people who don’t get it when she says this. I told her to use “You people are beginning to sound like a skipping (or scratched) CD” instead. For some reason, a phrase by Douglas Adams really sticks in my head: “As pretty as an airport.” Newer airports are much classier these days, so I don’t know if the analogy is as effective if I use it among non-geeks. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082/38 "2006-03-23T23:00:54Z")
> [@twopiecesofeight](#): > > A friend told me she’s met younger people who don’t get it when she says this. > > I told her to use “You people are beginning to sound like a skipping (or scratched) CD” instead. Except this analogy doesn’t work like the original. A broken record repeats the same phrase over and over again, whereas a skipping CD leaves out part of the message. Not the same thing at all. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082/39 "2006-03-23T23:26:08Z")
The Whole Nine Yards. Even The Perfect Master is uncertain of the origins of this phrase. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082/40 "2006-03-23T23:30:16Z")
> [@PBear42](#): > > Welsh: You’re grape juice? Anyhoo, my point is that most people don’t even realize it’s an ethnic slur. Similarly, I think even less know that gyp is one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-analogies-that-almost-no-one-really-understands/349082.md?page=3)